From the Universe’s Origins to the

Rise of Modern Humans

In the Beginning…
Our Universe May Be One of Many to Have Emerged From the
Fabric of Reality
 Current Research Indicates Our
Universe Is About 13.7 Billion Years
Old
The Universe As Seen by a Satellite
Looking Back Into the Dawn of Time
The Milky Way Galaxy is About 100,000 Light
Years Across and Almost As Old As the
Universe Itself
Andromeda is a Galaxy very much like our own
A Star is Born
The Solar System Began to form
more than 4.6 Billion Years Ago
The Terrestrial Planets Began to Form
The Embryonic Earth
The Moon Formed
The Early Earth Was Violent and Filled
With Upheaval
The Earth Was Under Cosmic
Bombardment
An Atmosphere Began to Form
Chemicals Replicated, Perhaps First in
Minerals
Hundreds of Millions of Years After The
Earth’s Formation, Life Began to
Appear
The RNA World May Have Been the
Only Life-Like Environment
After Many Centuries, RNA Gave Rise
to DNA and More Complicated Life
Forms Began to Evolve
Bacteria Emerged 3.5 Billion Years
Ago
Plants Were the First Complex Life
Forms to Develop
Plants Added Oxygen to the
Atmosphere

420,000,000 Year Old Plant

Fossil
Animal Life Began to Evolve in the
Ocean
The Cambrian Era Ocean
The Vertebrate Fish Gave Rise to
Other Life Forms
The Amphibians Colonized the Land
The Reptiles Evolved, and Dominated
the Land for Hundreds of Millions of
Years
The World in Which the Reptiles
Lived Was Much Different Than
Ours
From the Reptiles, There
Emerged the Dinosaurs
Another Group to Emerge from the
Reptiles Was the Mammals
Mammals Got Their Big Break When
the Dinosaurs Were Wiped Out
 Late in the Age of Dinosaurs, a New
Kind of Tree Living Mammal Evolved
—the Primate
By Around 33,000,000 Years Ago, Old
World Primates Were Well Advanced
 In Africa, More Developed
Primates Emerged

Ardipithecus—Ancestor?
In Many Parts of the World, Forests
Shrank
 Certain Primates Began to Adapt to
Living on the Ground. Some Became
Upright (Bipedal) Walkers—the
Australopithecines
 More Than 4 Million Years Ago,
There Lived a Species in East Africa
Called afarensis
The Most Famous Member of
afarensis— “Lucy”
More Than 2,000,000 Years Ago, a
New Line Emerged in East Africa–
Homo habilis.
 Homo habilis is Considered by Most
Scientists to Be the First True Human
Later, a More Advanced Human
Species Evolved Out of habilis–
Homo erectus
Homo erectus Walked Fully Upright,
Could Use (If Not Make) Fire, and
Had More Advanced Tools
 Examples of erectus Have Been
Found in Africa, Asia, and Europe
From Homo erectus There Emerged
the Modern Humans—the Homo
sapiens

Neanderthals—An Extinct
Cousin?
Some Scientists Believe That Only the
African erectus Led to Modern
Humans
Others Think the Modern sapiens
May Have Had Multiple Origins

Where erectus Remains Have Been

Found
By 35,000 BCE There Were Fully
Modern Humans
The Months of the Cosmic Calendar
December in the Cosmic Calendar